Ashgan

These Dark Stars: A Feudal Space Roleplay - M+18 - Always Open!

My week's been essentially impossible to work in so far, but beginning Wednesday I will be available again and getting to my posts in my various RPs. Even so, I do check the forum each day and will reply to PMs on such matters; more than willing to work on collabs too, for what it's worth. They work much better for dialogue I feel.

These Dark Stars: A Feudal Space Roleplay - M+18 - Always Open!

BurningCold is right. I'll say that Astera certainly has ambitions to be a contender for empress, but that's a long way coming still. It's definitely an option for later in the story though, I think, especially depending on how her personal story arc develops. Knowing this, she's more than open towards political discourse with whomever to keep the peace or even find allies to support her, so an ambassador would be very welcome for instance. I'd look forward to it.

These Dark Stars: A Feudal Space Roleplay - M+18 - Always Open!

That's fair I guess. Since world building is up to everyone in a way, it might as well be a thing. I don't even know how something outright supernatural like telepathy is explained at this point. For my concept at least, I make it rather clear that it is an inhuman and alien ability, attained from delving into the dark pits of the cosmos. That's kind of the point of my concept anyway: to write a story about a lovecraftian creature that is as much a slave to its own genes as it is to the manipulation of those who would seek to abuse her. All the same, it is unclear if those who would leash her have any idea what they're doing or if they really are in control. The rest is just a matter of figuring out what y'all are comfy with and what you feel makes the story more fun.

These Dark Stars: A Feudal Space Roleplay - M+18 - Always Open!

I'm not going to powerplay anyone, rest easy. Same as with killing characters, I believe in the power of discussion and building consent.

Tech-wise, Poly did imply that psy-ablative techniques exist (and I mention those too in my expanded backstory), and paranoid people could easily surround themselves with incorruptible robots.

These Dark Stars: A Feudal Space Roleplay - M+18 - Always Open!

Okay okay. I've been lurking this thread for just under a week now and, after presenting my initial WIP to Poly, have refined it and am now ready to show my first version to the thread proper. I realize it's a bit out there and the RP might have benefitted more from a greater cast of "normal" nobles to make the court intrigues bigger, this is simply more up my alley right now and I'm hoping to bring my own flavor of interesting plot elements to the table. There's certainly a lot of potential I think. Have fun!

Hider

Astera the Heavenly Queen

Cycles

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Submerged under a deep lake of primordial fluids, I wait and grow, dreaming. Dreaming of my promised lordship and my legacy as the inheritor of creation. My genes sing to me sweet lullabies and triumphant hymns, and from the distant, impenetrable dark I can hear the voice of my mother calling out to me in a language older than me, older than time, incomprehensible. She is the gateway, and I am the key. On that prophesized day when we are united, the galaxy will tremble under the weight of our ambitions. But that day is far, and so I wait. And grow. And dream.

---

A million shrieking voices cry out in anguish when he pulled the trigger. Five shots, at point blank through the back; every supersonic round ripping apart heavenly flesh and showering the prostrate masses below in cosmic blood and guts. His triumphant warcry:

“Death to the false-“

It is all he could yell before a dozen magnetic assault rifles unloaded in his general direction, nailing the wet, scarlet tatters that used to be a man to the marble wall on the opposing side. The dying queen collapsed backwards, a shaky, pale hand fumbling near the hole where her stomach used to be. At first she heard the cries of her people lamenting her death, but within a mere handful of heartbeats, she could neither hear nor remember them. Her teary eyes gazed up at the domed, glass ceiling of her wagon, beholding the pale blue sky and puffy clouds beyond. She knew this day would come. She had provoked it long ago and had dreamed of it even earlier. She regretted nothing and would do it all again in a heartbeat. But she never imagined it could be so frightening and painful.

Panicked aides rushed to her side; bulky men in heavy armor provided cover in all directions while more elegant figures extracted scans of her vitals from her dying flesh. They inserted emergency medical devices into her corpse, sprayed coagulant on the void that used to be a womb, but they knew as well as the great Astera that nothing could stay the hand of fate.

“There – is n-nothing. To. Fear,” she croaked in a whisper. “I was – born. For this. And I –I-I will. Be. Born. Again.”

The great queen and goddess of Lerna died that day with a knowing smile on her colorless lips. She had found out the truth, and so would her sisters. It did not matter how many generations it would take, their day would come. And there was nothing the prelacy could do to stop that, for they were blinded by hubris.
One day, the very weight of the cosmos would collapse upon them, to put them in their place and teach them that godhood is beyond their mortal grasp.

---

Consciousness pulls at my soul like a million violent hands, yanking and grasping as if wanting to tear me asunder. Never have I known such pain or fright. Never again will I. When the great lake is drained and my plastic cocoon ruptured, I realize for the first time that I have eyes, and open them. My disappointment is infinite when I behold a world that is cruel, dark, raw and cold. So very, very cold. Alien lifeforms with alien minds crowd around me in bewilderment, watching me as I curl up and weep as I have never wept before. Their unknowable eyes somehow appear impossibly accustomed to the sight of a goddess being born. Surely the impression must be wrong.

Surely. The alternative would be too terrifying.

Appearance

Hider

Great queen Astera, the goddess who descended from the stars to shepherd mankind into a new golden age. Most striking of all about her is her abnormal size; she towers above even the largest men at almost three meters in height. Combined with her sleek, elfin features and frail, lean and elongated physique, it strongly underlines her divine image by making her seem extremely otherworldly and surreal. Although her skin is naturally very pale, the warming sun of Lerna has burnt a healthy tan into her hide; only her hair remains absolutely colorless, a pristine snow white. Women across the kingdom have dyed their hair white in an attempt to imitate their great leader and appeal to the sensibilities of the times. She is also never seen without her royal regalia, replete with an elegant dress and a tall, exotic-like crown. It is said that the masses weep with joy when they behold her grace, but perhaps these tales are merely exaggerated; or, perhaps, there is a much darker truth to their bewilderment.

In person she is graceful and patient, always wearing a paper-thin smile that seems as benevolent as it does domineering. In spite of her well-practiced manners and feminine modesty, her massively inflated ego shines through when she is faced with adversity; she has a very difficult time adjusting to any sort of denial. She remains calm even in anger, however, declaring insults and ordering torture with the same, level-headed voice and unflinching smile as always. That said, most people find themselves unable to deny her even the most irrational of wishes, mesmerized as they are by her radiant beauty, otherworldly awe and, perhaps most importantly, her mind-wrecking telepathic powers.

History

Hider

As humankind expands from their placid cradle into the vast, uncaring reaches of the cosmos, they are bound to encounter things that cannot be controlled and cannot be understood. It was not meant that we should voyage far, and when we did, we found things that were not meant to be found by men. When probes passed by the Nariko system, far beyond even the most remote colonies at the time, their scanners picked up an object of disturbing aspect and problematic size. Camera feeds later revealed the unbelievable: the planets in this system – seven in all plus a total of five moons – were all linked together by a singular, metallic and clearly artificial object whose aspect was like that of a centipede. With millions of monstrous legs – or arms – it dug into the planetoids’ crusts and held onto each, preserving their constellation and tidally locking them to the bright yellow star at the center of the system. Estimates for its age are based purely on speculation; some believe the object to be as recent as a century or two, while others imply (although never in public) that the Worm is almost certainly older than life on earth by multiple factors. Much less than even grasping its mere age, scientists have spent over a century now trying to decipher the machine’s purpose, to no avail. It simply exists, and we behold it and marvel at the things that must be out there in the cold darkness that are capable of discarding and forgetting about something like this. Or that are capable of wiping out even its creators.

We ought to have been cautious when we chose boldness upon discovering a great and terrible thing within the Worm and now we must reap the harvest of our hubris. Thirty years ago, a pale, inhumanly tall woman was crowned queen of the Pontus system and the galaxy shuddered at the implications. The crowning itself was considered a scandal on the outside, as there was not a drop of royal blood in her; in fact, she had no traceable lineage or family of any kind at all, appearing out of nowhere. Only the emperor and his closest associates could even guess at the sinful pit that must have spawned this harbinger of dark portents. But to the people of Pontus, she was a heavenly guide, a goddess in the flesh. As quickly as she appeared, she had swept up the local worlds under her sway, assuaging herself as a living deity and a divine ruler and the people adored her. Those from outside regarded the Pontians with great suspicion and perhaps even pity but doubtful minds are quickly turned whenever the heavenly queen makes a physical appearance, of which there are many. Broadcasts of her grandiose parades circulate the network every week and it seems that, as a ruler, she prefers to reign through the power of charisma rather than force.

Of course, the system is not without its standing army which grows by the day. Acts of terrorism happen on a regular basis across Pontus, instigated by loyalists of the old regime, skeptics who contest the idea of her divinity or simply undesirable elements who are rightfully afraid of the great change she is bringing to the cosmos. These attacks are leaving an impact on the people, who become more and more willing to turn to violence to defend their utopia. The greatest coup yet happened a week ago: a rogue bodyguard assassinated Astera in public, killing her before thousands of eyes and millions more on the network. Everyone had seen it, none could deny it.

Today she announces her resurrection and the resumption of her divine mandate.

((Note: This is a heavily shortened and undetailed version, by request of Polybius both in the interest of brevity as well as suspense and IC plot building. With Poly's permission, however, I am willing to hand out the unrestricted file for those of you who are curious and don't care about "spoilers". I've been told the lovecraft/giger vibes coming off of it are neat. You could also just dig into the secrets in character though.))

Home System: Pontus

Hider

Planetoids

• Phorcys, Magma World
• Lerna, Wet Tropical World [Colonized, Capital]
• Typhon, Barren World
• The Hesperide Belt, Asteroid Ring
• Echidna, Gas Giant

• Orthus, Moon
• Cerberus, Moon
• Colchia, Gas Giant
• Ceto, Ice World

• Ladon, Moon

Space Installations

• Orbital Shipyard, under construction over Typhon
• Lernaean Royal Habitat, orbiting Lerna
• Primary interface for import and export of goods.
• Assists energy production with enormous solar sails
• Former seat of government (Moved planet-side)
• Arkwright Corporation Habitat, orbiting Hesperide Belt
• Privately owned deep-space refinery that works the asteroid belt. Work under royal contract.
• Minor orbital outposts stationed around Typhon, Echidna’s moons and Ceto.

Capital World: Lerna

Hider

A beautifully bright ocean covers two thirds of this planet’s surface, its hot currents bringing fair temperatures to the myriad archipelagos and continental islands that dot its cyan expanse. The waters teem with pelagic wild-life which makes the world’s fishing industry very prominent while the deep abyss, lined with aquatic volcanoes, hides a plethora of exotic and terrifying creatures of scientific interest. The land itself used to be blanketed in a thick layer of rainforests, although the vast majority of them have been removed in decades prior to make way for enormous farming enterprises. Lerna’s incredibly high rate of rainfall and fertile, volcanic soil ensure that almost any humidity and warmth-loving plant will grow fantastically.

Although the planet was traditionally known only as a massive bread basket for the empire, Lerna has undergone rather drastic changes to its reputation since holy Astera’s crowning. Investing sizeable funds into the construction of a centralized capital city, the world has become of particular interest for tourism agencies who can now better take advantage of the world’s many tropical allures thanks to the existence of a robust infrastructure. The city, named Angelian, awes onlookers with its pristine cleanliness, top-modern construction materials and exotic art design that hearkens back to ancient Egypt, a fact that is most apparent in the abundance of mythical statues, walls covered in hieroglyphic writing and, above all else, the titanic white pyramid that is Astera’s palace. Everywhere in Angelian is permeated with an air of mystique, reverence and hopeless grandeur.

Subjects

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The overwhelming majority of Pontus’s population is human, although non-human serfs can still be found servicing Lerna’s fields or Arkwright’s mining operations. They’re largely obsolete in face of ever improving machinery, however.

Flagship: The Elohim

Hider

Sleek, elegant and fast, the Elohim is not a warship but an extremely expensive luxury yacht. Equipped with botanical gardens, exotic pools, mystical temples coated with incense as well as a variety of bars and wellness services, this vessel is the embodiment of human decadence. Although its only form of armament are a dozen point-defense platforms for intercepting rock debris (or missile-based warheads), its discreet shielding and advanced thrusters could provide the Elohim with a reliable escape vector in case it should find itself under attack.

The queen rarely leaves her planet, rarer even the system, but when abroad and sometimes when receiving diplomats, this vessel makes for an excellent embassy for the Pontus system and its divine monarch.

Fleet

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Most voidcraft in the Pontus system are actually commercial vessels for the transportation of goods or exploitation of asteroid mining sites. The actual fleet of the queen consists mostly of swift corvettes and destroyers from the old regime, whose primary purpose was to patrol the system and escort traders. However, wary strategists will point towards the battleship-sized shipyard under construction in Typhon’s orbit and suggest that there is no need for such a large dry dock if one only intended to build for transportation and self-defense. Top secret blueprints and concepts for larger, more heavily armed combat craft designed with the reformed kingdom’s religious theme in mind, already make the rounds in court. The queen is ambitious.

Other Characters of Import

Hider

• Astera Double (?): Given that the great queen was killed on camera just a week prior, it all but implies the existence of lookalikes to protect her identity.

• The Prelacy: A highly secretive group, these faceless priests represent the highest echelon of the Asterian faith, and only they are privy to the deepest mysteries of their religion. They are almost never seen outside of the great pyramid, or if they are, it is not in their usual attire. Few can guess at the depth of their schemes or their sins.

• Others are added as they become relevant, or revealed.

The Prophecy

These two break my heart ^^ it's like they're both socially inept, but in different ways, and they can't really express what they want or how they feel. I like it.

Anyway, feel free to write a skip, I don't think I have anything substantial to add at this point, and a change of scenery would be a breath of fresh air too (and, curiously, it will mark the end of Jillian's first, real, post-filled IC day. In all this time, I got a day from morning to evening down. wew)

The Prophecy

It took a long time for the necromancer to finally produce an answer to the waste of time that Jillian had just presented to him. Not even the haze of excitement that burning magical energy brought to her could cloud her perception enough as to make her unable to see his hesitation. When he did speak, he didn’t compliment her exotic knowledge, or her mastery of the spell, or the power and intensity thereof. None of the things she had been hoping for, but that was not what bothered her so. It was that he needed this long – long enough for her tired smile to completely vanish in the interim – to state the simplest, most detached thing that must have come to his mind at the time. And not even that was what made her bitter. It was the realization that, after what must have been frantic thinking, this was the least offensive thing he could think of saying.

I didn’t really expect it to work! She wanted to yell. What’s wrong with using the power given to us? Can’t you have fun once in a while? Or do you just hate me so and don’t have guts to tell me to my face? Or is it because you are angry at yourself? Maybe you want me but because I’m not your stiff wife you feel guilty? It’s not my fault! I just wanted to have a bit of fun in between all the horrible things we went through, will go through, and had to tell each other about ourselves! Reina’s mercy, why do you have to be like this, you damn jerk?!

Jillian looked away from him, her gaze seeking refuge in the glow of the campfire. She too fought with herself to retain her composure, but her flushed cheeks, tightly pressed lips and controlled, deep breathing betrayed her. “Maybe some other time,” she hissed. “I’m not supposed to share it anyway.”

That part was not a lie, either. She had promised Reynold that she’d keep his father’s secret magic to herself. It would have been rather inconvenient for someone who taught at the academy in Zerul to have been exposed as harboring a hidden archive of less-than-legal treatises on magic. He still didn’t know that his son had betrayed his trust to a pair of pretty eyes. But then again, she had also promised Reynold that she’d stay with him for the rest of her life. That promise had lasted for a single month. It was the list time she made it, too. Never once had she nourished Vincent’s aspirations for a lifetime together. Even when she professed her love to him she had been saying it as a convenience first and an uncertain truth second. She had always been more interested in his knowledge, and his ability to comfort her when she was angry, than his persona in general. It felt like she had been using him all along, now. Simply a gateway to dark magic and the rest merely a price of admittance. And maybe Gerald was right for wanting to keep away from her. Maybe he sensed it and did not want to be the next to be used by her. Her thoughts were starting to make her feel sick.

“It’s getting late,” she brooded, eyes still focused on the dying flame. “We should probably get some sleep, right?”

The Prophecy

Yeah, probably not Shien. :'D
That's true, although it's fair to imagine that he still would have known how to work with iron and steel. Also, it's not uncommon for jewelry to not be made of pure gold, not just to keep the price down but also to make it more robust given how soft gold is. It's a minor point anyway.

The Prophecy

I can't believe that I was oblivious to something like iron having a warmer melting point than steel. Even if I wasn't aware of it, I feel like it's something Jillian should have known because she did (and somewhere, still does) have a mild interest in metalworking. Not to mention that her father was a smith. I suppose we'll have to say it slipped her mind somehow. Stupid me :D I should look up stuff like that before I write.

The Prophecy

“Yeah, I was told at the academy. I was kind of enthralled by fire since I was a little girl, you know. Maybe I intuited its import and likeness to magic long before learning my first arcane word. Wouldn’t that be something?” she wondered with a half-grin. The truth, however, was most likely the other way around: It was not fire’s likeness to magic that drew her in. For her, magic had always been a way to come closer to touching that radiant flame, ever so beautiful and defiant towards the human hand and will. Her Icarus flight promised that she would either become one with the sun someday, fully embraced by its searing arms, or become rejected and burn to nothingness. Or, if fate was cruel, a vile bird of prey would snatch her up mid-air to devour her very soul. This threat became more real by the day with the enemies she was making.

“They must be utterly insane,” Jillian concluded, “Not even I would choose to live on a volcano! But you know, Gerald, I wonder if I can show you some burnt stone. Orphid’s flame can melt iron and even steel quite efficiently. Maybe it’s just hot enough if I give it a minute or two. I bet you haven’t heard of this spell before either in all your forbidden studies.”

“Here, let me show you a little secret of mine,” she offered with an excited smirk. She outstretched her arm towards the campfire and began deftly flicking her hand and fingers in familiar patterns resembling arcane runes. If Gerald listened closely he might just hear her muttering the words under her breath, but the effort seemed half-hearted, almost unnecessary. The speed and certainty with which she casted the spell showed that the gesture had become more than mere memorization; they had become second nature to her, the very motions, bereft of meaning, ingraining themselves into her muscles. In mere moments within her hand, fingers curved as if cupping an imaginary orb, there appeared a slowly-churning sphere of bright green energy – fire – that seemed to dance like real flame as seen through slow motion. The orb’s heat was immense and even though Jillian kept her arm outstretched, the two of them could already feel sweat building up on their faces and bodies. Her face somehow appeared unnaturally lifeless and macabre in the chartreuse light.

“It’s a forbidden spell. The tomes containing it have mostly been destroyed. Don’t know why, nobody really knows anymore what this Orphid did. All we know is that he supposedly died a very painful death, and his studies were erased. Except, a few examples still remain, or parts of them. This one comes with an additional invocation to cast on top of the orb, turning it into a beam. You’ve seen it in Gariel Downs. Quite taxing if you do it overlong, but very effective and precise.”

Jillian spied around for a piece of stone and found a pebble not too far from the grassless clearing around the campfire. She got up and headed towards it, her hand leaving behind a trail of green, fiery fetters that seemed to disappear far too slowly in the air. She knelt beside the piece of stone and bathed it in the viridian sphere; the earth around it and the rock itself turned black within seconds.

“Also, don’t look directly at the orb for too long,” she warned, looking away herself. It was clear from her expression that the heat – as well as the too recent expenditure of magic – were not being kind to her. “It’s weird, but looking at it makes you sick. Maybe that’s a hint towards Orphid’s questionable character. Would love to know.”

A trail of white-grey smoke was accompanied by a gentle hiss as the rock took on a reddish glowing hue. The heat and light reminded Jillian of her youth again, being in her father’s forge. Back then, she had been really interested in his craft and it made her wonder if, had magic not existed in this world, she might have picked it up herself. Her sister and she could have continued the business on their own then, without the need for men even. Not that she, of course, was particularly averse to menfolk. Maybe in a different world and a different life…

After a little more than a solid minute, Jillian withdrew the orb and dismissed it with a whisper and a flick of the wrist. Even after being banished, little sprites of fluttering, acidic green danced on the evening wind with uncanny resilience for a handful of unnatural seconds. When the witch looked down at her work, she saw that the pebble’s glow was waning quickly, and although it had not entirely molten, the outer layer had definitely warped its shape to a more irregular texture, as well as becoming irrevocably black. Short flames struggled to survive around the rock where the earth had caught fire, like worshippers crowding a sacred altar and praying for salvation. A tinge of disappointment formed on her frowning face.

“Not quite molten I guess, although I think if I did it longer it would eventually melt. What a fascinating spell though, is it not? When I saw it, I could not help but fall in love with it.”

She returned to her place next to Gerald, wiping her forehead as she did. Washing herself earlier had turned out to have been a pointless endeavor after all. She beamed at him with what seemed like genuine happiness, hoping that he would approve of her. Gnawing fatigue visibly ate away at her smile like rust biting into metal.